ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A northeast Albuquerque neighborhood was denied a playground after New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham vetoed a $200,000 request for funding. Now, the Bernalillo County Commission will vote on a resolution to try to support the playground.
The proposed playground sparked community debate after neighborhood resident and former Lieutenant Governor Diane Denish said she called the governor to ask for a veto. State Senator Gerald Ortiz y Pino, who made the initial $200,000 request, said he was upset with the governor after the veto.
In emails to the city, neighborhood residents expressed mixed feelings about the proposed playground. But the city said about two-thirds of the emails it received about the park were in support.
On Tuesday, April 9, the county commission will vote on a resolution to support the park. Commissioner Steven Michael Quezada (District 2) sponsored the resolution, which would urge the governor to reconsider the veto of the playground funding and would ask the City of Albuquerque to move forward with construction.
The park isn’t in Quezada’s district, but he told KRQE News 13 that he felt like the playground was worth supporting. “Normally, I don’t stick my nose into other districts,” Quezada said. “I felt my job as a commissioner was to stand up and do something.”
Quezada also said the resolution came after speaking with Robert Padilla, who is running as a candidate to take over the county district that includes the Netherwood Park Neighborhood.
Quezada’s resolution doesn’t ask the county to fund the playground. “Usually we don’t [fund] things in the city, because the unincorporated area is just so badly in need of so many things,” Quezada says.
KRQE News 13 reached out to Adriann Barboa, the current county commissioner who oversees the Netherwood Park area, to see if she supports the resolution. As of publishing, KRQE News 13 has not yet heard a response.
In explaining the veto, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said the community seemed to lack consensus over the playground. KRQE News 13 asked the governor’s office if she would reconsider the funding if the resolution passed. She did not respond before publication.
